Colorado will make history Wednesday as the first American state allowing stores to sell marijuana for recreational use â€“ eliciting fear and predictions of doom from anti-drug campaigners.

On a Tuesday conference call hosted by Smart Approaches to Marijuana, former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., said Colorado and Washington state â€“ where stores will open later in 2014 â€“ are "canaries in the coal mine."

"There are a lot of 'unintended consequences'... that will make them ponder whether this was the right decision," Kennedy said, predicting more traffic accidents, increased school truancy, higher drop-out rates and a general decrease in public health....

Strat, usually the situation is more complex than that. Take the problem of queer marriages, they bring a lot of problems such as the extra expenditure to support immoral behavior such as that for so-called marriage benefits. These benefits are anything but beneficial to society. However, I will agree with you somewhat on The Inadequacy of Moralism.

I will point out this interesting little article, US to let banks do business with licensed pot shops. Society has to make up its mind on how much creeping immorality, which is really creeped a lot since the beginning of the 20th century, that it is going to tolerate.

We should live in a free yet responsible society where you are free to take into your body whatever you wish but the moment you kill or injure another we as a society bring the wrath of God down upon you and you wish you were never born.

The fact that someone can spend as much or more time behind bars for what is in the blood stream or the glove box of their Car as they can for assaulting or killing someone shows just how stupid our society and system has become.

Violent criminals should live in mortal fear of the people and the law and the punshments be so fierce that most would shoot themselves rather than be caught....of course what we have is the people in fear and law enforcement relatively indifferent...they carry guns so what do they have to worry about.

Unprofitable Servant wrote:Strat, not sure where you are coming from so trying to understand.The Scripture plainly teach that civil authorities are supposed to punish evil doers. There is no law broken that does not involve a sin problem. Are you saying we shouldn't go after embezzlers because the real problem is the sin of greed? We should not go after prostitutes because the real problem is the sin of fornication?I would venture to say most robbery and murders are drug related. Marijuana is known to be an introductory drug to get people hooked on the harder stuff. I really have no interest in people driving impaired due to being high. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away. You will also see that in both Washington and Colorado the blackmarket will thrive due to the high price of legal stuff. So, we are not making the illegal drugs go away by making it legal to sell, if anything it will increase illegal sales.

Nonsense comparison"most robberies and murders are drug related ? statistics and evidence please,if they are is it not due to the illegality of drugs and the organized crime involved.

Making drugs legal will increase illegal sales,at this point i have to ask what you are smoking or who's Kool Aid you are drinking ?

This will have the same effect as when they made alcohol more available. The effect will be a bad one, except for the tax collections, which is what the politicians are really interested in. While political results are always what God wants, he usually let sinners have their way at the polls. If Coloradoans didn't want Pot sold this way, they would have voted for people who wouldn't have allowed it. Things will only get worse, until the physical return of Christ, The Inadequacy of Moralism.

One advantage of our Federal system (what's left of it) is that it allows states the freedom to try things like this. However, if they are going to legalize narcotics, they should also impose stricter penalities for manslaughter-while-intoxicated. How about the Death Penalty for 2nd offence?

"â€¦ by a free country I mean a country where people are allowed, so long as they do not hurt their neighbours, to do as they like. I do not mean a country where six men may make five men do exactly as they like." â€” Robert Gascoyne Cecil

pennned wrote:US - which civil authorities? would you welcome the UN coming in with swat teams in your neighborhood "for your security"? you seen the stats on how many youth are on psychotropic drugs? that's perfectly ok? you don't believe Colorado has a rght to say they will manage their criminal problems as written in their state cohn? -- do you understand the division of powers as originally written in the cohn regarding who is to come in and deal with arrests and the courts?

Penny, thanks for making that clarification. NO, not the UN. The statement was made about laws here in the U.S. So the reply was made in general about civil authorities (federal or local) here. I made no comment about Colorado authorities enforcing their state laws. I made a general comment about civil authorities here in the states as Strat seem to indicate that we (he used the term America) don't have a drug problem (really???) just a sin problem.

US - which civil authorities? would you welcome the UN coming in with swat teams in your neighborhood "for your security"? you seen the stats on how many youth are on psychotropic drugs? that's perfectly ok? you don't believe Colorado has a rght to say they will manage their criminal problems as written in their state cohn? -- do you understand the division of powers as originally written in the cohn regarding who is to come in and deal with arrests and the courts?

Strat wrote:...America has a sin problem,not a drug/substance problem.

Strat, not sure where you are coming from so trying to understand.The Scripture plainly teach that civil authorities are supposed to punish evil doers. There is no law broken that does not involve a sin problem. Are you saying we shouldn't go after embezzlers because the real problem is the sin of greed? We should not go after prostitutes because the real problem is the sin of fornication?

I would venture to say most robbery and murders are drug related. Marijuana is known to be an introductory drug to get people hooked on the harder stuff. I really have no interest in people driving impaired due to being high. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away. You will also see that in both Washington and Colorado the blackmarket will thrive due to the high price of legal stuff. So, we are not making the illegal drugs go away by making it legal to sell, if anything it will increase illegal sales.

Christopher000 wrote:The more accessible any drug is, the more widespread its use will be and the more addicts it will create. MJ creates a psychological addiction and will eventually dumb down the brightest of people, not to mention that like alcohol, there are plenty of auto accidents caused by stoned drivers.

Then we need to do away with what is left of our republic and institute a totalitarian police state dictatorship that does away with people's ability to choose,only then will people make the "right" decisions....oh that's right,we are almost there with the "war" on (insert enemy here)....America has a sin problem,not a drug/substance problem.

GS -- Ford was building this and had future plans which were stopped when it was made illegal in 1950s (after it being used and celebrated in wwii for mil industry!) hemp protein is very useful for health and is very legal to buy in any grocery store, but am farmers not allowed to grow it (so we can "consume" but foreigners get the profits?)....fueled by our own lack of knowledge of our own history. Dec of indep was written on hemp paper! people will take synthetic drugs derived from the drugs they make illegal! then to add to it the mainstream news of the poppy fields of afghan being guarded by our military for taliban.... you might enjoy a history of opium, Great Britian and China....when establishment folks begin to want health, land and real food we will see sanity return, until then its gm foods, regulations that ruin small farms and synthetics..... and with the reality of fukushima hitting us, there will come a point when young people are like, what? you are going to cure what I got with more radiation? we need healthy seed today!

Pennned, you reminded me of a video I watched on YouTube about a car they made back in the 40s or 50s out hemp and other material. They literally beat on it with sledge hammers, and they bounced off, not even harming the vehicle! Why haven't we utilized this? I'm against smoking the stuff, but this use has practical benefits.

Strat -- bingo. add to this industrial hmp which our forefathers grew and made into products such as rope for their ships.... why is a plant that is used like wood banned? especially during a time when we see how hard the gm corn and soy are on the farm lands? it is said to not need pesticides to grown and was a strong component of American commerce until the 1950s. what it reminds me of is the closing down of our factories to send to China and the regulations that make small business difficult here. just more red tape.

The more accessible any drug is, the more widespread its use will be and the more addicts it will create. MJ creates a psychological addiction and will eventually dumb down the brightest of people, not to mention that like alcohol, there are plenty of auto accidents caused by stoned drivers.

The drug "war" is nothing but a war on the constitution and has provided a clear path for the destruction of freedoms of Americans who have never touched the stuff....this do gooder crusader's fears are unfounded,the people who smoked it before will continue and those who did not will continue the same....this Reefer Madness idiocy is comical yet has been a very useful tool for tyrannical government for years.